It started on April 3rd and it ended last night, two and a half weeks after the end of the regular season. On opening day 2006 the Mets defeated the Washington Nationals when Carlos Beltran threw out a runner at second base trying to stretch a single into a double. That play was an early indication of what this season might hold. The Mets went on to run away with the Eastern Division winning by 12 games over the Philadelphia Phillies and clinching their first division championship in 18 years. Last night it all came to an end with a call third strike to Carlos Beltran, the same guy who made that great play on opening day.
Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS will be considered one of the great games in playoff history except that’s hard to swallow because the Mets lost. There will be much ranting in regards to why Wagner wasn’t in the game in the top of the ninth and why didn’t Willie Randolph have Woodward pinch hit and bunt the runners over in the bottom of the ninth? Let’s get one thing straight, the Mets do not make it to game 7 of the NLCS without Willie Randolph steering the ship. His guidance, teaching, encouragement, and confidence are major reasons why the Mets achieved so much in just his second year of managing the team. But for the sake of argument, let’s go over the game.
First, I would have kept Heilman in the game in the ninth too. He had a strong 8th inning, and in the ninth with the game still tied, the Cardinals had the bottom of the lineup coming up, all right handed hitters. Unless you weren’t paying attention, Billy Wagner did not have a stellar series. He saved the first game giving up just a walk. In game 2 he gave up three runs in a tie game and the Cardinals won. Wagner came in game six with a 4-0 lead and got the Mets out of the inning but not before giving up 2 runs and sending 56,350 fans to the cardiac clinic. In other words, Heilman looked sharp, had pitched fewer innings and really appeared more trust worthy in that situation. The changeup he threw floated up and of all players, little Yadier Molina took him deep. You can second guess
The only move I would question, and I freely admit that I’m doing so in hindsight, was not bringing in Chris Woodward to try and bunt the two runners over in the ninth. But if Floyd gets a big hit in that spot then all of us second guessers look like idiots. After Floyd struck out Reyes hit one on the screws but injured or not, Jim Edmonds is still a very good fielder and was able to come in and pick it off. Lo Duca walked to load the bases and with Carlos Beltran coming up you have to feel as if the Mets would at least tie and perhaps even win the game. I will go into the winter feeling great about this Mets season but the one burning memory will be the final at bat of 2006, Beltran standing there with his bat on his shoulder as strike three crossed the plate—ouch!!! It’s easy for me, you, all the critics, and Mets fans everywhere to ask why didn’t he at least swing the bat. The answer is probably that the ball looked exceptionally high but then broke incredibly right over the plate freezing Carlos in the process. I just know had he swung and missed, I would have felt a bit better about it. Perhaps I’m being unfair but I deserve it, I think I have been very fair in this blog all season long.
Give credit where credit is due. Jeff Suppan did a fantastic job in this series. He shut the Mets powerful offense down twice giving up just one run in 15 plus innings pitched. In last night’s game the Mets did not have a hit from the second inning to the eighth. They could have scored more in the first but they didn’t. With a runner on third and two down Shawn Green hit a hard line drive that was caught by Rolen. After Endy Chavez’s game saving catch in the 6th, it looked like the Mets gained the momentum. In their half of the inning the Mets loaded the bases without the benefit of a hit. With one out Jose Valentin struck out. Endy Chevez maybe trying to do too much hit an easy fly ball to center and the inning was over. Until the ninth inning, the Mets did not threaten again.
So how do we digest all this? What do we take away from this game and this season? You have to put it all into perspective. I’ve said this before and while we are in such pain right now I think it should be stated again. If some visitor from the future had told us back in March that the Mets would play to the seventh game of the NLCS, we all would have been ecstatic. We expected the Mets to be better this year but frankly no one expected them to win the division and do it in such dominating fashion. There are several reasons why the Mets did not get to the World Series. Their starting pitching suffered two major injuries. However, they managed to get to the precipice of the Series relying on young unproven pitchers who if anything have gotten Willie’s and Omar’s attention for next season. But if the Mets had a Jeff Suppan to go along with Glavine, maybe things would have been different. Also the young studs, Jose Reyes and David Wright were pretty quiet in the NLCS. They tried to do too much with each at bat. It’s easy for young players to do that. Reyes lost the patience he developed through his all star season and Wright was trying to knock everything out of the park instead of focusing on going to right field. In fairness, Wright did drive in the Mets only run, the last Mets run of 2006.
Another reason the Mets lost: stuff happens in the post season. I believe as Billy Bean points out in “Money Ball” the baseball post season is a crap shoot. It has basically become a tournament between the top eight teams in baseball. The World Series is no longer a contest between the top two teams. Just take a look at the series combatants. The Tigers are a wild card team (who absurdly has home field advantage) and the Cardinals managed to stumble their way to just 83 wins, 14 less than the Mets. If you throw out what the Mets did this year because they didn’t get to or win the World Series then you are foolish. The Mets won 97 regular season games and a division title. That is something to be very proud of. You can’t feel as if the whole season was a failure because they didn’t win it all. The system is not set up that way and frankly it has not been since divisional play began in 1969. Don’t get me wrong, I'm not trying to sugar coat this stunning defeat. I’m not very happy right now, game 7 was a great game but the hurt will last for days. I doubt very much that I can even watch an inning of the World Series and I love baseball.
A championship team takes a long time to develop and certainly the Mets have made huge strides. Just two seasons ago the Mets finished 20 games under .500. I took my son that year to his first Mets game. We saw John Franco give up a three run home run and lose the game to the Montreal Expos. Man that feels like one hundred years ago (actually that was the game David Wright got his first Major League hit, a double down the left field line). Look how fast things have changed.
There is a silver lining to this defeat and only the strongest of us will be able to see it right now. This series has become growing pains for guys like Reyes, Wright, Heilman, and others. The pain they feel today will turn into experience next year and the years that follow. They will know in the future they must approach playoff games the same way they prepare during the regular season, stay within themselves and do the little things that win games. Plus look what the Mets hierarchy has learned about a couple of their young pitchers. John Maine and Oliver Perez pitched exceptionally and under extraordinary circumstances. These two young guys pitched so well and did it on the biggest most pressure packed baseball stage in the world; New York. That certainly bodes well for their future as starters in the Mets rotation.
The team will be better next year. Omar Minaya will improve the starting rotation, he will add bench players, and he will perhaps find a more permanent solution at second base. The corner outfielders will be addressed as well. Do the Mets gamble on another year with Cliff Floyd or do they look elsewhere? Does Lastings Milledge stay or does he go in a trade. What about Carlos Gomez from the farm? Does Minaya go after Barry Zito and/or Alphonso Soriano? These are all questions Mets fans will ponder over the coming months. No matter what happens the Mets will improve but be warned. Getting a better pitcher, tweaking the outfield, and generally upgrading the team does not guarantee the Mets a post season birth in ’07. There is always the unpredictable. Key players can have off years or suffer season long injuries. Other teams in the division could have a year like the Mets had this season. If it’s not unpredictable then how the hell did the Mets get beaten by a home run off the bat of Yadier Molina? Stuff happens and being so close this year and not getting to the World Series stings, it stings badly.
What a game though, leave it to the Mets to go out on one like last night’s. And the catch by Endy Chavez that robbed Scott Rollen of a two run home run will be played on highlight reels for years to come. It’s too bad it came in a game the Mets lost, the clinching game. It reminded me of the game earlier in the year when Jose Reyes hit for the cycle in a Mets loss. Maybe it’s a metaphor for the 2006 season. A great Mets season no doubt but one that had its flaws. Realistically the Mets lost the NLCS in game 2 when the pitching staff gave up the lead three times. Had the Mets won that game and went up 2 games to 0, things would have been different but it is what it is.
For a while I’ll be sad. I will be sad there are no more Mets games to watch at night. I will be sad that come Saturday evening the Mets will not be donning those new baseball caps with the World Series logo on the side. I will be sad that the Mets won’t be able to prove that they are just as good as those “better” American League clubs. But I’ll get over it; after all it’s just a game, right?
